Update: Just to clarify: This is an official deck from the campaign, forwarded to fund raisers to help them in their Q4 efforts.

When Romney first entered the fray he was dubbed the "Mr. PowerPoint" and for good reason. He is one of the few candidates who makes regular use of the medium for more intimate group settings and for making the case for his strategy across his network of advocates.

Yesterday, MyManMitt obtained a copy of a "deck" entitled: "Romney vs. Rudy: Different Visions, Different Strategies". Here are some key slides from the deck.

Be sure to come back tomorrow as we bring you live coverage from "The Washington Briefing".

It started on Tuesday, January 09, 2007. Mark Joseph of Fox news told us that Mitt Romney would likely not win the Republican nomination for President because Evangelicals in states like New Hampshire (20% of voters), South Carolina (34% of voters), and Iowa (37% of voters) would not support a Mormon candidate. Then, Steve McMahon (Dem Strategist), speaking with Chris Matthews, claimed the same thing. Not only was Romney a Mormon, he was really a “Massachusetts Liberal”. Few if any in the MSM and on the professional pundit shows gave Mitt Romney a chance. John King of CNN summed it up for us, “A successful Olympics, one term as governor and 3 percent in the national polls does not give you the nomination.”

My, my . . . things have certainly changed in the past nine months. According to USAElectionPolls.com, Romney’s rise in the national polls has been just short of astounding. Consider these key states:

Arizona 10% in January to 18% in OctoberCalifornia 3% in January to 11% in OctoberFlorida 2% in January to 16.5% in October (wow!)Iowa 8% in January to 24.3% in OctoberMichigan 9% in January to 39% in September*Nevada 11.5% in March* to 23.5% in OctoberNew Hampshire 13% in January to 24% in OctoberOhio 4% in January to 8% in OctoberPennsylvania 1% in January to 8% in October (wow!)South Carolina 6% in January to 16% in October

And here are some interesting averages:

Southern States from 4% in January to 16.3% in OctoberWestern States from 7.5% in January to 28.2% in OctoberRed States from 7% in January to 17.8% in OctoberBlue States from 6.6% in January to 16% in October (wow!)

Consider that Romney is splitting the polls with up to eight other candidates, and he is leading or a close second in those states that the pundits said he had little chance of winning. For Romney, if the next twelve months is anything like the last nine, they will not call him “Mitt the Mormon” anymore. They’ll be calling him Mr. President.

A persuasive powerpoint, but it strikes me as defensive, trying to make a case that Mitt's low numbers in national polls and polls in the February 5 states don't mean he's losing. Mitt's strategy may work; it just as easily may not. His real problem is a worse positive/negative ratio even than Hillary.